Financial junkyards

In the 1970’s we talked about the Japanese stock market miracle… it later became something NOT to invest in!

In the 1980’s we saw the first blow up in the American mortgage market.

In 2008 people talked again about “credit default swaps” as a symbol of Wall Street lunacy, like in the early 1990’s when we talked about leveraged buyouts in the same way.

Money laundering has now become a new headline, but this is not the banks’ fault. It is those naughty criminals…

… and now we have the likes of Uber which has received glowing reports in the press recently:

“In the years since, Uber skirted laws and cut corners to trample over regulators and competitors. It accelerated the start-up industry’s misogynistic and reckless hustle culture. And it pushed a frightening new picture of labor — one in which everyone is a contractor, toiling without protection, our hours and our lives ruled by uncaring algorithms in the cloud.” By Farhad Manjoo NYT Opinion Columnist on May 1, 2019

“Uber’s enormous, vague IPO prospectus is an outrage. The 431-page document highlights what is wrong with the US public markets” according to the FT in May 2019.

While the Australian press are reporting that more than 6,000 taxi drivers and hire-car operators in Australia filed a class-action lawsuit last week against Uber, alleging the ride share company destroyed their livelihoods and operated illegally.

What is next?

Unfortunately nobody seems to be writing much any more about our Finnish taxi reform by the departing Transport Minister ,who has now transformed herself into a top-notch banker! Taxi fares are up, and the private equity boys have entered this market. Do not hold your breath for what she promised – “lower fares and more taxis…”